Ask ten people how to drink honey whisky, and you'll get ten different answers, and at Beeble, we'd probably give you eleven. That's rather the point. We make it in Wiltshire, blending Scottish whisky with honey from our own hives, and in the years since we started, we've tried it every way we can think of.
Here's what we've learned, glass in hand.
1. Neat
Start here, honestly, at least the first time. Pour a small measure into a proper dram glass and let it sit for a moment before you drink it.
Honey whisky is built to be sipped slowly. Open the bottle, and you'll get a waft of heather and warm caramel, and something underneath that smells unmistakably of the countryside.
Neat is also the best way to understand what you're working with before you start mixing.
2. On the rocks
If neat feels a touch intense, ice is the gentlest way to open the drink up. A large cube melts slowly, which matters more than it sounds. It softens the whisky bit by bit rather than diluting it all at once, so you get a slightly different glass with every sip.
This is our most commonly recommended serve, and for good reason. Cold, the honey note pulls back, and the warmth of the whisky comes forward.
3. Hot toddy
Come the colder months, this is the one we reach for. A hot toddy is an old, simple idea: spirit, hot water, something sweet, a bit of citrus. Honey whisky does most of the work for you already, since the sweetness is already in the bottle.
To build one:
- 50ml Beeble Honey Whisky
- Hot water, off the boil rather than boiling
- A slice of lemon
- A cinnamon stick, if you have one
Warm your glass first with a splash of hot water, tip it out, then build the drink inside. Stir gently and let it sit a minute before you sip; it's hotter than it looks.
Variation: a clove or two pressed into the lemon slice adds a little more depth without changing the character of the drink. For the full recipe with all the detail, our Perfect Hot Toddy guide on the Cocktails blog has you covered.
4. The Honey Whisky Sour
This is where honey whisky properly earns its keep behind the bar. The classic Whisky Sour is whisky, lemon, and sugar syrup, and swapping in honey whisky means the sweetness is already built in. We know what these flavours do in a glass, because we made them to work this way.
Ingredients:
- 50ml Beeble Honey Whisky
- 25ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 egg white (optional, but gives the drink a proper foamy top)
Method:
- Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice first, and shake hard for about 15 seconds. This is the "dry shake," and it's what gives you that velvety foam.
- Add ice and shake again until well chilled.
- Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
Variation: no egg white to hand, or not your thing? Leave it out entirely; you'll lose the foam but keep every bit of the flavour. A dash of Angostura bitters on top is a nice finishing touch either way.
5. Long drink (with ginger)
For anyone who wants something lighter, longer, and easier to make on a Friday with no ceremony involved, this is the one. It's the serve we suggest most often to people who are honey whisky curious but not quite ready for a full cocktail.
To build one:
- 50ml Beeble Honey Whisky
- Top with ginger ale
- Ice
- A wedge of lemon or orange
Build it straight in the glass over plenty of ice; there's no shaking or straining involved. The ginger ale brings a bit of spice and fizz that plays nicely against the honey, and it's an easy one to batch up if you're having people round.
Which works for you?
If you're new to honey whisky, start on the rocks; it shows off the flavour without asking much of you. If you're already a whisky drinker, try it neat first so you can taste exactly what the honey is doing. Cold evenings call for the hot toddy. Having people over calls for the long drink or the sour. There isn't a wrong answer here, only the one that suits your evening.
Shop Beeble
However you take yours, it starts with a bottle of Beeble Honey Whisky, made with Wiltshire honey and blended with whisky from a family-run Perthshire distillery. If you'd like more ways to use it, our Cocktails blog has a full range of recipes to work through, or browse the wider Honey Spirits collection to try the rum, vodka, and tequila too.
